Patrick Mahomes remains the elusive goal for Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby.
Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby recently appeared on The Lefkoe Show, a podcast featuring interviews with athletes with Adam Lefkoe of Bleacher Report. It’s an interesting conversation about life in quarantine, the move to Las Vegas, and the Raiders offseason, but for our purposes, it was interesting to hear Crosby’s respect for (and hope to defeat) the Kansas City Chiefs.
Crosby was the Raiders fourth round pick last year as a rookie but made an instant impact on defensive coordinator Paul Guenther’s defense. Crosby had 47 total tackles, 10 sacks, 14 quarterback hits, 4 forced fumbles, and 4 batted passes in 16 games. For the Raiders defense, Crosby was an excellent find in the draft’s middle rounds and showed a chip on his shoulder after being passed over several times.
Going forward, Crosby is going to be a nice young pass rusher to watch in the AFC West and the Eastern Michigan product brought down his fair share of opponents, but Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was not one of them. It was a subject Lefkoe asked Crosby about and the defender admitted that Mahomes often left him pissed after games.
"“I was close a few times and it pissed me off, pretty much every second after that game was over—both times, I was mad … But you know, he’s a different type of player, too. He’s one of those guys it’s just like… he just backpedals, he’ll throw the ball from weird angles, it’s not like sacking a regular quarterback. So yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to sacking him. It needs to happen. It’s definitely going to happen.”"
Elsewhere in the interview, Lefkoe asked Crosby about this year’s big offseason additions including the drafting of Henry Ruggs III in the first round. The presence of Ruggs on offense should enable the Raiders to stretch the field in ways they could not before, and Lefkoe asked him about Las Vegas having their own version of Tyreek Hill. Lefkoe had plenty to say about having to face the Chiefs wide receiver.
"“Well, Tyreek Hill, he’s just… he’s a different breed. The dude is so fast and quick. It’s second to none. I’ve never seen anything like it. So whether he’s coming in motion… you have to pay attention to him. even if he’s the decoy, it’s still slowing the defense down. If he’s lined out wide, you can’t just be man to man. You have to have some kind of help over the top just in case. having a guy like that who is such a game-changer and X-factor, you always have to pay attention to him.”"
The Chiefs have won five consecutive games over the Raiders and 10 of the last 11 contests overall. Ever since Andy Reid arrived, life has largely been miserable outside of Kansas City in the AFC West. The Raiders can only hope younger players like Crosby can develop enough for them to topple the Chiefs and even make things competitive in the season series. For now, however, that remains a longshot until the team can prove otherwise.